(L to R) Amir Thompson, Jayden Gonzalez, Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez, Mr. David Roush, Teresa Coffey-Carlton, Brianna Wright and Mr. Walter Chadwick at the Hollywood SIgn
Long Beach, Calif. – Lights, Camera, and Action, were all on the itinerary as five Truman High School Media Communications students traveled to the Student Television Network’s National Convention held in Long Beach, California.
“It’s really indescribable, the amount of fun and learning that takes place on these trips. It’s our fourth time traveling to a convention and each time they get more dynamic and more interesting,” according to media teacher Mr. David Roush.
The four-day convention included team and individual competitions that challenged the students to work under extraordinary deadline pressure. In the “Crazy 8” round the entire team, along with chaperones Mr. Roush and Mr. Walter Chadwick created a short film around the prompt, “Off the Table.” Students had to include a character saying, “You did a bad thing, for a good reason,” as well as a shot of a staircase in the background. In their entry, the students depicted various comical ways they might deal with an annoying teammate who accidentally ends up dead.
Students got a behind-the-scenes look at Warner Brothers Studios
“STN was wonderful. I got to see where my skill level ranks relative to other student filmmakers out there,” said team cinematographer and editor Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez. “It was really eye-opening to see what other people can create and it pushed me to the next level. I’ve been taking film seriously since September and STN really caused me to be conscious of all the things I have learned and have yet to learn.”
In the individual rounds, senior Teresa Coffey-Carlton and Amir Thompson created a commentary film around the prompt “Which is the best video streaming platform?” They had three hours to write and record their content, and only two hours to edit together and submit by the deadline.
In the other individual round, sophomore Jayden Gonzalez, senior Brianna Wright and senior Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez crafted a heart-pumping movie trailer based on the prompted title “It Never Goes Away.” In their entry, Gonzalez is on a mission to escape an ‘evil twin’ version of himself. They had only three hours to produce and three hours to edit their entry.
Amir Thompson shares the stage with his co-presenter Ashley Rose of Arizona at the STN Convention closing ceremonies.
In addition to the competitions, the convention included interactive workshops, a student mixer and a closing ceremony. In the closing ceremony teams learn who won each contest category. It was an exciting event for the Truman students, because their classmate Amir Thompson was selected to be on stage in front of the arena of over 2,500 attendees to hand out the awards.
“Honestly, it was the first time I’ve ever been on stage in a professional setting. It was wonderful. The flashing lights, the people screaming.” Thompson said. “The fact that I was able to make it up there – I was proud of myself. I was very excited.”
Finally, to round out the trip, the team visited Warner Brothers Studios where they took a back-lot tour, as well as tapings of the television game shows “Press Your Luck” and “Wheel of Fortune.” The team was also able to take in the sights at several Hollywood-area hot-spots including the Hollywood sign, Walk of Fame, TCL Chinese Theater, Dolby Theater, Griffith Observatory and the Santa Monica Pier.
“STN has already announced that the 2024 convention is coming back to Long Beach,” Mr. Roush said. “And we plan to be there. I have to add -that we could not have done this without the generosity of some very incredible donors. My friends and family back in Pennsylvania came through in a big way, as well as many of the staff here at Truman High School. I cannot thank them enough for their generosity. Also, to our principal, Ms. Alfano. She always supports my students in these types of endeavors.”
Students check out the sights around Hollywood during their trip to California.